Everything flies, everything changes and Instagram is no exception. If previously, to promote a page, you could limit yourself to mass following, but now everything is much more complicated. Instagram algorithms do not sleep and only allow content that “enters” into the feed. How do they determine this? According to the audience's reaction. In this material we will look at mechanics that will help increase engagement.
Why is this useful?
- Coverage increases. If the user liked, commented and was otherwise active on your page, then your posts will be shown to him more often.
- The probability of getting to the top increases, which also leads to an increase in coverage.
How to increase engagement?
It's probably your content. Ask yourself: “Is our content interesting for the audience?”, “Are the photos and text beautiful enough?” If everything is ok with the filling, then we move on.An Instagram user is a lazy user. He doesn’t want to strain, doesn’t want to think, he just wants to consume. Let's consider specific techniques that will push our user to be active on our page.
2. Questions and surveys. The easiest way to get a response in the comments is to ask a question or get an opinion in a post. It shouldn't be too complicated. To make your subscriber's life easier, you can offer response options. And in order to show your interest, express your opinion first.
Example for a cinema page:
“Friends, which of the September new products did you like best and why?”
“The following premieres await you in October (list of films), which one would you like to attend most?”
3. Offer to ask. People sometimes have questions, but they are embarrassed to ask because they think that they will be ignored. Give them the opportunity to ask.
4. Call to action. So ask your subscribers: “Like it, write a comment.”
5. Live consultation. Live broadcasting is a very useful format, thanks to which you can introduce your audience to yourself and your product, communicate and receive feedback. This makes your subscribers more loyal to you.
6. Ask for advice
Example:
"Suggest a good hairdresser in the center" or “Where is the best place to go with the kids on the weekend?”
7. Dating post. Invite your subscribers to tell about themselves, their hobbies, activities, and services provided.
8. Post condition
Example:
"If this post gets 200 likes, I'll make a video about instant messages on Instagram"
Audience opinion. Find out what people would like to know about in your next post.
Competitions and sweepstakes. There are various competition mechanics. For example, you can give away a prize for the most comments. You can come up with a task: “complete the sentence...”, “the funniest comment”, etc.
“Is it true that posts in the feed are now shown differently?” - I get another question at a webinar on SMM. The new principle of ranking news has made life more difficult not only for specialists, but also for entrepreneurs promoting their projects. How to deal with the fact that records are now shuffled like cards in a deck, and how to increase coverage - in this material.
After Instagram officially announced a new “smart” feed, some KPIs and principles of working with the social network changed: now the race for the number of subscribers, but systematic work to increase reach, came to the fore. They are now fighting to increase engagement in all ways: not only officially permitted, but also “gray”. Bloggers unite in closed chats to which they add their posts. They share publications and then mutually comment on each other’s posts.
In addition to such attempts to increase your involvement, there are services with paid account boosts: Google returns more than a million results for the query “Instagram boost.”
So which posts are winning in the new search rankings?
- Posts from people with whom you are corresponding, you know in real life or you are friends on Facebook.
- Posts from people whose content you react to with views, likes, saves and comments.
- Posts from people you searched for in general social network searches.
- Posts from real users (they are given priority for display compared to commercial pages and business profiles).
- Posts that are promoted using targeted advertising.
- All other posts.
Comment by Ivan Danilchenko (head of the social dating agency GetFame Agency):
Recently there was a fashion for a new feature: a sanitary day in the account. This is when you block accounts that have at least 1000 subscriptions to other accounts that have Arabic and Turkish letters. I was subscribed to 150 accounts, but per day I viewed a maximum of 20-30 profiles in my feed. Guys who have 1000 or more subscriptions obviously won’t see your profile, but they greatly spoil the statistics.
As we found out, the algorithm randomly shows your photo to some of your subscribers and if they like it, it moves the photo up on everyone’s feed, which gives a strong increase in likes. If the algorithm randomly selected accounts that have a lot of subscriptions, and you did not receive any reactions, then your photo or video will remain in the footer of the feed.
Allowed ways to boost your post in the feed without resorting to dubious methods:
Repeat and remember
The new principle of ranking posts is not clear to all specialists. The algorithm is designed to make the feed more interesting, useful and of higher quality, but on the contrary, it has made the work of many more difficult. What to do in the new conditions?
- Forget about illegal methods of cheating, mass following and mass liking, remove hashtashes: they will not help.
- Recall Golden Rule: High-quality, engaging content is shown first.
- Use advertising, actively implement new features, block all inactive subscribers.
No one creates an Instagram account just to exist. Everyone who registers there wants to show others how he lives, with whom he spends time. Everyone who registers there wants likes, comments and subscribers. We will talk about how to increase activity on Instagram in this article.
Activity on Instagram is...
The activity of subscribers in your account is their interest in you and your products. The greater the organic influx of subscribers, the number of likes and comments, the greater the chance of increasing sales in the near future.
The activity of subscribers is the key to your success and well-being.
Subscriber activity is your god, who you need to pray to before eating, after eating and before going to bed. Especially now, with the introduction of Instagram smart feed.
How to check activity on Instagram? Of course, in order to understand whether you should start sounding the alarm or not, you need to understand the current level of user activity on your page. And the easiest way to do this is to look at the number of subscribers, likes and, most importantly, comments. Have you looked? Now we subtract from there what has been twisted, if there is one. And we get a rough idea of whether your subscribers are active or not. Here it is worth considering the “age” of publications and their content. Of course, there will be more likes and comments under a post with a competition, but this does not mean that your page has reached new level.
You can make it easier to view your activity. An indicator such as “coverage” will help with this very well. We compare it with the total number of subscribers. If the coverage is many times less, it's time to do something.
Methods to increase the activity of subscribers on your Instagram account
Before turning to famous SMM specialists for help, he tries to stir up the audience on his own. So, to get activity on the page, do the following:
Reasons for the decline in activity on Instagram
Have you noticed that for several days your likes and comments have not increased at all or in very small quantities. First of all, analyze what you have changed in your activities. Most likely, the problem lies in the following:
Conclusion
How to increase activity on Instagram? No, this is not a rhetorical question, because now you can read a whole lecture on this topic. You know all the nuances and can use this information. And finally, advice to those who have read: do not abuse giveaways and set stricter requirements. You need to avoid fakes created only for competitions. And before carrying out this promotion, prepare an account: if users see good content, they will not want to unsubscribe after the competition.
If you use Instagram for your business, then in your analytics you probably noted a decrease in the loyalty of subscribers to your content. If you are faced with the fact that people are liking or commenting less on your content, products or promotions, and the number of subscribers is not growing as much as it was recently, don’t worry.
Not only you, but also other accounts, regardless of popularity and audience reach, have faced the problem of decreasing subscriber activity. Of course, in light of the key role Instagram plays in promoting your brand or product, this statistic should worry you, so we hasten to calm your worries by offering 7 truly effective strategies for overcoming periods of stagnation that will help take your audience of subscribers to a new level of growth and stimulate their interest in your products. But first, our advice No. 1: for the most active and fruitful interaction with your audience, and therefore increasing the number of clients, there is nothing better than regular, daily updating of your content!
Decrease in activity on Instagram
Last summer, there was already a decline in user activity on Instagram, which was associated with the transition to an algorithmic feed, while it was expected that this innovation would improve connections between users on Instagram, but so far the results are not encouraging - a decrease in activity various parameters analysts.
According to Instagram marketing expert Alex Tobo, while in the past Instagram users could expect a 3-5% increase in followers, this moment this figure dropped to 1-2%, and even large accounts with more than 100,000 subscribers faced a downward trend.
While it is difficult to determine what is causing the decline in activity on Instagram, some experts believe that this is due to: new algorithm, others blame the so-called “Instagram shadowban” (shadow ban), when Instagram, for some reason, removes your hashtags from hashtag search results, and sometimes even hides entire publications.
So, how can you help yourself in this situation?
1. Stop using Instagram bots
Instagram is a place where everyone competes with each other. In order for your content to appear on the “Interesting” tab or in the top materials for hashtags, they must be appreciated by as many people as possible, which will be visible by the many “likes” and comments, of which there should be as many as possible. Since there are so many people like you on Instagram who want more user likes and comments, some of them take the path of least resistance by turning to popular services that help them “increase” the number of followers or likes on their posts. These people are guided by the following thought: “If I can’t get 2000 subscribers or likes within an hour, then why don’t I buy them from a bot service?”
In some cases, indeed, bots can be very useful for very busy people who are engaged in offline business and cannot find enough free time to fully interact with followers on Instagram, however, excessive use of bots can expose your account to serious risks. and that's why:
Recently, Instagram updated its algorithm to be tougher on bots and accounts that use them. In fact, for several weeks now, users have been resorting to auto-commenting, auto-friending, etc. began to notice that their posts with hashtags were no longer displayed on the search results pages for them. The fact is, if you use any automatic or bot program in your account, there is a chance that: a) Instagram will find out about it; b) You will be hidden or blocked. Therefore, we recommend that you refuse their services, because this is contrary to the terms and conditions using Instagram.
2. Strategize how to use your hashtags
Information has already appeared in the news chronicles that Instagram fines incorrect, “spammy” use of hashtags or for the use of prohibited hashtags. It is still unknown what this is connected with, with the official position or a software glitch of the platform, but users have already noted that even if they insert one prohibited hashtag, their messages are still not displayed when displaying results for search hashtags, even if together with the prohibited hashtag The message will also contain “normal” hashtags.
Until this problem is resolved, we recommend that you create a set of hashtags from those that you often use, after making sure that they are not prohibited. To do this, just try to find them in the search. If you see messages at the top of which one or another hashtag is indicated, then everything is in order.
If you find a prohibited hashtag, be sure to stop using it, as it will prevent other, “correct” hashtags from indexing your posts on search pages.
Now for the good stuff. Despite the above problems, Instagram hashtags are still one of the the best tools to attract attention to your posts, especially if you want to get into the “Top Posts” for a hashtag.
If you've ever done a hashtag search, you've probably noticed a grid of nine top posts appearing at the top of the results page. On Instagram, these are the so-called “Top Posts” - the most popular posts on a selected topic that were tagged with this hashtag. Already below them are other, slightly less popular posts, in chronological order and regularly updated, so getting to the top posts of the search results page means a big achievement for you and your brand!
The algorithm that selects top posts is based on several factors, including: the importance of your posts (likes and comments), the popularity of the hashtag and the age of your posts. If you want to get to the top of the hashtag, you need to optimize each of these factors.
3. Post a message on Instagram, taking into account the greatest activity of your audience.
One of the best ways getting your posts in front of as many people as possible means publishing content at a time when they are most active. The fact is that the search engine Instagram algorithm gives the “green light” first of all to messages that caused the greatest resonance and user activity, which means that what more people read, like or comment on your message, the higher it will rise in the search hierarchy.
At the same time, your message will rise up the news feed of your subscribers, which will further popularize it.
This is why it’s so important to factor content timing into your strategy. It is very convenient to use the free Instagram post scheduler if you want to prepare materials in advance for posting on the day and time of day you need, without your participation.
Note: according to some users, updating content several times a day can lead to a decrease in activity on your page, and this is due to the features of the new algorithm; in addition, the appearance of your posts too often in the news feed of subscribers may be perceived by them ambiguously, some then it will be annoying and perceived as spam. If you notice that your view stats are down, try reducing the number of daily posts, down to once a day.
4. Add call-to-action buttons to all your posts
Your followers will be more lively and willing to comment or like your posts if you encourage them to do so. For example, some picture or product, as well as a question related to them, but addressed to the subscriber, for example: “Last weekend I hand-fed the deer, what are you going to do this weekend?” A specially provided comment button will be very useful. A live feed of conversation participants plays an important role in pushing your post up the Instagram hashtag search rankings.
5. Join support groups (Instagram Pod).
Since Instagram switched from a chronological to an algorithmic feed, users have tried to "hack the algorithm", with some users turning to the use of bots and others joining forces to create special Instagram modules, which include so-called Instagram pods.
Instagram pods are somewhat reminiscent of group chats on WhatsApp. These are groups of 10-15 users, bloggers or companies that have similar audiences and gather in order to “boost” activity on their Instagram pages. People communicate with each other through Instagram Direct Message and every time someone from the pod posts another post, they share it with the group. Pod members leave their comments under the post and like it, thereby encouraging other users to also participate in discussions.
To join the Instagram module, you need to add (or submit a request to be added to) a private Instagram group chat. Usually people learn about a suitable Instagram pod from each other when communicating, but you can also try your luck in finding a suitable Instagram pod in Facebook groups or VKontakte, focused on Instagram. Once you become a member of a pod, study the set of rules and ethics adopted in it in order to make new friends, colleagues and subscribers.
At first glance, some isolation of people in Instagram pods may seem suspicious to you, but unlike bots, Instagram pods are legal communities of like-minded Instagram followers, so you don’t have to worry about your page being blocked or blacklisted.
6. Actively use Instagram Stories.
Instagram Stories They have long gone beyond the fun of ordinary users, turning into one of the most relevant tools for promoting brands and products on Instagram.
We cannot confirm whether there is any relationship between the reaction of subscribers to your Instagram Stories posts and posts published in the usual way, but it can be noted that sometimes posts on Instagram Stories increase user activity. Thanks to the functionality provided, Instagram Stories can better unlock the potential of your branded hashtags than regular posts.
Another benefit of using Instagram Stories is that you can check out a selection of stories right from the Explore tab. When you go here, at the top you will see the Instagram Stories line with the results of selecting the stories from the accounts you use and the messages you liked the most. In addition, Instagram will also show you stories that other people have liked.
If you want your posts to be included in the Instagram Explore tab, you need to focus on creating highly engaging and targeted content. The better your posts, stories, illustrations, and products are relevant to your audience, the more likely Instagram will add your account to the Featured Stories at the top of the Explore tab!
7. Hold a competition
A thoughtful approach to your hashtag strategy, participating in Instagram Pods, and posting at the most opportune times are mandatory conditions“reviving” user activity on your page, but if at the same time you also set a goal to relatively quickly increase the number of subscribers, then you should try another way - organizing competitions!
If you're looking for a high-end Instagram contest idea, try teaming up with another interested account, brand, or influencer. A joint competition will be useful for the owners of both audiences of subscribers, because your subscribers may be interested in your partner’s profile, and vice versa, his subscribers may be interested in your account, brand and type of activity. You can arrange 3-5-day sales, stimulating subscribers with prizes, discounts and bonuses for being active on your pages, likes and comments.
Even though Instagram is experiencing a slight decline in user activity at the moment, you can still breathe life into your account using the methods above. Of course, you will have to rethink your Instagram strategy and adjust your content, but the more carefully you think through your next steps, the more comments you will receive under your photos, products and promotions, and you will also be pleased with the increase in requests from potential buyers!
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